 Welcome everyone to depression to expression. My name is Scott and today we're going to talk about the ketogenic diet challenge I went through for mental health reasons. That's what those 30 days of logs were all about what I was trying to do is Experiment and see does food have an impact on my mood now the answer is obviously it does obviously it does but I was looking for Ways that the ketogenic diet would increase my energy Overall mood how I felt in the mornings and what it did was actually something that I didn't expect I'm going to talk about three things that the ketogenic diet basically cured in 30 days It's pretty remarkable And then I'm going to talk about what foods I'm introducing now that have already introduced and what the effect has been so Far because if you follow me on Twitter and an Instagram and stuff, you know, I've been talking about man I just want that coffee. I just want a nice old-fashioned plain doughnut. How about a maple dip? How about a vanilla dip? How about an apple fritter? I was craving some of that stuff and Well, I'm going to tell you what I've introduced and what the effect is but first the three things. Oh and also blood test results to You can check this video out. I was in the hospital because I fell off my bike and what they do is they take your blood When you're in the hospital, see if everything's a okay, and it just so happens I wanted to do that anyways for the ketogenic diet. So I'm like, hey Nurse may please have those test results. Can I have a copy of that? Now this doesn't include like B vitamins and things like that You need separate tests like for an actual physical to get those but there's pretty cool things in this blood test That I think you'll find very interesting because the ketogenic diet man That's a way different way to eat than I was used to like I was pretty high-carb And when you're doing 70% fat 20% protein 10% carb. I was barely doing 10% carb there. It was very very different and The blood test actually surprised me. So you ready sit back relax. Take your pants off if you haven't subscribed Please subscribe. This is a mental health channel Depression to expression where we express ourselves fully freely with confidence. All right. Let's do this the first thing the ketogenic diet cured at around day I think it was around day 15 after the keto flew after I felt terrible The big cure was my allergies seasonal allergies now I can't remember a Time where I didn't have seasonal allergies where my eyes weren't itchy where my nose wasn't running or Plugged where my ears and the roof of my mouth weren't itchy. It hasn't happened And that's a result that I didn't know I didn't expect that to happen and let me tell you Going through a summer and not having to sneeze not having to take allergy medication Was awesome. Like I go to bed and I can actually breathe through my nose For all of you who suffer from seasonal allergies It's like going to bed and you have to breathe through your mouth and you wake up with the dry mouth Pasties this was a treat. This was a real treat and Again From an early early age. I've been taking arius Clare didn't doesn't work for me arius is the one allergy medication that I take that just does wonders I'm spitting everywhere And I was just so surprised by that result so surprised and so happy So that's number one seasonal allergies Gone with the ketogenic diet gone number two This isn't really a cure and this was pretty much an obvious thing Because my my calorie intake. I don't think was as high when I when you go off carbs As you can see by the vlogs if you I'm gonna you know put a link up here where you can see every single vlog I did for the 30 days and you can see how I'm pissed off at the beginning going through keto flu There's times of depression times of more anxiety times where I'm just like this diet's stupid and then other times Where after the keto flu I get used to things get used to the habit You know eating differently getting used to cooking differently buying the right vegetables buying meats finding them on sale You get used to the whole thing after just a few weeks, but The one thing was my calories were definitely lower at the beginning. I had to eat non stop I and I was telling Michaela who introduced me to this diet and told me to try it She was like yeah You're gonna like be hungry a lot of the time at the beginning your body's just not used to it My body was craving carbs, and I'm just like use the fat for energy you idiot My body wasn't listening for a while. So what it did is uh for all you ladies or gay men I'm gonna show you my stomach now. It's nothing serious Okay, but I had a beer belly before the ketogenic diet not a beer belly, but I had a kangaroo pouch I was growing a Joey in there and From the reduced calories, but also you talk to anyone you reduce carbs Your stomach gets flat man. It gets flat. So that was what I saw even around week one um flatter stomach and no bloating after eating Huge improvement huge improvement. So I just want to show you Like that's pretty cool, right and I'll do a little flex like guys. I haven't done a sit-up in a month a because that accident Bruised my ribs Right, I don't know if you can see that. That's my hip, but that was all bruised um My ribs are still bruised here. So I haven't been able to work out, but look at that man That's crazy now if I push out That's the push out That's the push out But you're never actually going pull like when you're walking around right so that's pretty cool What do you think if I do a little twist? You know, it's all lighting at the end of the day and I'll have to make this a thumbnail So I get a click or two But um guys like in all seriousness not to flaunt or be Cocky about how my body looks, you know, I don't do that type of thing But I wanted to show you and you asked for it. Um, again, I should have done a before Um thinking if I have any pictures of a before I probably do but I did lose 10 pounds Um on the keto diet and the the 10 pounds were on was honestly Uh in that stomach area that's where you know women get it in the hips And uh men get it right in the bellies right in the lower abdomen. So that was pretty cool. What do you think that's pretty cool So we're at no allergies. That's number one. Awesome. Number two belly fat gonzo number three Headaches headaches now. Here's the tough thing. Here's the tough thing I got a pillow about a week and a half into the ketogenic diet a new pillow a casper pillow But I was sleeping at my parents place. I was sleeping at friends places So I had different pillows throughout the month And I was still getting no headaches in the morning in the afternoon night Never never and let me tell you I would get headaches often in the morning ketogenic diet no headaches No headaches. Can you believe that? Now I want with these three three cures I'm not I'm not advertising any diet. Um Like I'm never one to be like carbs are bad Like to eliminate this or go vegan or go carnivore or do this and that I'm just sharing my own experiences here and with these three improvements That's pretty awesome. That is pretty cool. Just after 30 days of eating differently I don't know what the long-term effects of keto are Um, well, I'll talk to uh, I'll talk to you about the foods I'm reintroducing But that's so cool. That is so cool because usually I'll I'll have a headache in the morning just it feels like inflammation That's what it feels like and with the weather too certain certain weather uh cloudy weather I don't know. Um different pressures in the air. I'd get headaches For 30 days Not a headache even during the keto flu Not a headache So that's cool. Those are the three things. So we have allergies no bloating and a flatter stomach And um, no headaches. That's really cool. So next I'm going to go through Introducing my foods and last I'll show you my blood results So again, if you follow me on instagram or twitter all the links are below all the great links to all these cool Playlists and what we do here on depression 2 expression. It's all available in the description, but um I was craving donuts carb withdrawal is a real thing and You know people get hangry and maybe people before their morning coffee. They're less They're they're impatient and they're not fun to be around That's carb withdrawal, man. Like I I was fiending for a little bit. I I was pissed off I was really mad about having to eat so much at the beginning, but let me tell you The one thing I wanted more than anything Was a donut. I wanted a donut And I haven't had one yet But what I have introduced slowly, but surely is My ketogenic My ketogenic diet was different than most because most people stick on the dairy because dairy is great for fat Bunch of cheaters, but I didn't do dairy I didn't I had no fruit not a single fruit. This was meat And veggies. That's it That's it oils of course oils and water no coffee either no bullet coffees no butter in my My coffee none of that because that's a big thing with keto as well doing the bullet coffees nothing So what I wanted to introduce first was fruit. I first had a plum waited a day Had a banana and a peach waited two more days No reaction So good news those three fruits like I miss bananas. I I would have a banana every single day at least two bananas and uh No reaction whatsoever fruit a okay second beer I had a beer and No reaction whatsoever. I waited a few days, right? Um The taste was delicious. I'm trying to think of what beer I actually had Oh, jeez. It was at the wedding. It was a Sleeman. It was a Sleeman. Yes I could have chosen a cool Ontario craft brew or something from Toronto Uh, it was a Sleeman But it was delicious. It was delicious and it was at a wedding. So maybe I I sweat. I danced. I had lots of food Um, I didn't eat carbs there during the meal, but the beer Success. So we're at fruit beer a okay Haven't had a bagel or any bread or anything whatsoever. But the other thing I did have Um was oh wait, let me just think Oh, right. Sorry the bread that was just a lie. I had a burger Um with the bun burger with the bun and phone please and No reactions whatsoever. Um didn't feel groggy didn't feel any adverse effects. Um, I know what you're thinking like, yeah Maybe I would have if I did this maybe for a two month period or three months Like do 90 days and then go back to the original diet. Um, but I was definitely in ketosis, man like Oh, it was the best feeling when I woke up one morning and wasn't starving that happened at around day 26 27 I woke up and I wasn't starving Like I would get up in the morning and I'd be in pain because I'd be so hungry And after like, you know, three weeks I I wasn't starving. That was a great feeling but So I was definitely in ketosis, but the bread didn't do anything And the last thing that I reintroduced was sauces So I I did ketchup and this barbecue sauce that was fairly low sugar But I I dipped chicken and a burger in there And that was it now I the way I did the burger was no sauce on the burger So I could see how the bun is just alone and then reintroduced sauces on their own I was very careful about this Um No reactions whatsoever, but remember this is mental health I did the ketogenic diet for mental health reasons not to Not to lose weight not to see what my workouts would be like and energy levels that way pump and iron Although I my energy wasn't great the whole time Um, but this was for mental health and as far as anxiety or anything like that or depression um no real Benefit with the ketogenic diet No big benefit, um Because I was feeling good from the beginning now as I told you all before the real test would be going off antidepressants And maintaining the ketogenic diet and that's something I'm still debating and I'd appreciate your Balanced opinion there and don't go after me about that But it's a big decision because I've gone off antidepressants before and I've almost died and I know the withdrawal effects. It's like Well, if you've gone through that, yeah, I don't need to describe it. So last but not least, this is very uncut Let's go through the blood results now As I said before the nurse was nice enough to give me a copy I'm trying to figure out how to best share this with you guys. They measured sodium potassium chloride total co2 Uh glucose levels and creatinine. I believe that's how you say it creatine creatinine. So sodium Perfect and my meals I added salt on everything since with carbs and breads You're getting a lot of salt that way. You do need to salt your food with the keto. That's one thing I learned potassium On the high end, but right on Uh chloride perfect glucose was on the low end. So they give you a range of Four moles per liter to 7.8 and I was at 4.6. So the nurse did say that was on the lower end glucose And uh, well, obviously I'm not getting the carbs. So I think that makes sense or maybe I wasn't full keto I don't know those experienced or maybe a doctor's watching. Please let me know creatinine, which is uh creatine You get all that from meat, right? That was at 84 Um out of 112. So that's a perfect range I just want to talk about the things that were high for me and with this blood test so Red blood cell count was On the high like it was too high So they give you a range of 4.3 to 5.6 E 12 per liter. Don't know what that means Anyways, it was 5.64 red blood cell count was high as well as Which is cool mpv mpv stands for the platelet volume the your blood platelets and how large they are and I was these were fairly big and if if something is um Again, I was talking to the nurse mpv. I can tell you exactly what that means mean platelet volume average platelet volume uh calculated measurement of the average size of platelets found in the blood And it's typically included in the test as part of the cbc So what this means if it's high it says normally um Occurs when your body constantly creates new platelets because of a continual loss of existing platelets This can be caused by things like recent surgery infection Inflammation or from heavy blood loss So I didn't lose any blood, but I'm thinking maybe inflammation could have had something to do with this. Um, although With the lack of seasonal allergies Like allergies, it's a it's an immune response, right? So I'm thinking the inflammation of my immune system went down But who knows? Um, I know I'm kind of talking out of my ass here Because I'm not a doctor and I have absolutely no medical training when it comes to comes to blood tests, but If you know more about this stuff, please comment below This is a this is a dialogue. So please help me out a little bit if you find this interesting And the other thing that was high was uh, monocytes abs monocytes Uh, when they're high a heightened percentage in your blood can be caused by chronic inflammatory disease Such as inflammatory bowel disease. So Another thing with inflammation Isn't that interesting two of the things in my blood that could be caused that are high that could be caused by Inflammation that is very interesting, isn't it? So those are the blood uh results Blood tests white blood cell count was perfect. Um Again, I talked about the glucose being perfect. I said red blood cell count was perfect. Um, and that's about it So that was the ketogenic diet. There's the three cures. That's the reintroduction of food so far so good Again, I'm not going back to heavy carb anymore. I told you I'd update you on that I'm not it doesn't make sense and I'm definitely not eating dairy again. I don't miss it. I do not miss dairy I don't miss cheese. I don't miss milk I don't miss yogurt Don't miss butter. None of that. So Excuse me dairy is something that I'm fine with missing out on that's a big inflammatory thing I guarantee if I reintroduce dairy allergies would come back I could probably experiment with that for sure. Um, but I just have to go buy dairy I don't really want to buy stuff. Um, and then the blood cell or sorry the blood test All seems good, right? Except for the the the high the high parts, but the nurse said that's like honestly nothing to worry about Um We'll see if I'm dead within a week Please call for help now So that's the 30 day challenge everyone keto I'd highly recommend it if you suffer from seasonal allergies If if you want to try something different for anxiety for depression Right for for any kind of physical illness that you have Um, I'm all about just trying everything attacking something that you suffer with from every different possible angle and see what works And diet for the most part is something that people don't really think about and that we don't experiment with Which is actually pretty nuts. Um, let me tell you it wasn't fun For the first two weeks, um, but it's two weeks out of your life, man Uh, it was definitely worth it as an experiment and I'm going to change the way I eat for the rest of my life Um, a burger here and there is great But as far as heavy pastas and dairy sauces and cheeses and candy Uh, it's just not worth it anymore It doesn't do anything for me. So like I would keep this diet Uh altered version where you know, I can have I can still have fruit which is fantastic But I do it just from the seasonal allergies point of view in the headaches Pretty awesome and I'm pretty excited. So I hope this gave you some motivation too to try this yourself I know a lot of people who are following the vlogs every day. We're doing their own challenges Please comment. Let me know how your 30 day challenge went. I know a lot of you were getting rid of refined sugar Some of you stopped drinking coffee other people were doing meditation for a month every day Um, let me know how that went and I hope you enjoy the new backdrop for all the videos I love reading music is a form of expression and I love nature. This is like my mental health toolbox Right here. So I hope you like the brighter background because uh brighter days are ahead for all of us Stay strong. Keep being you and don't forget to express yourself